


Rotten Fruit

by Ysabetwordsmith



Series: Love Is For Children [35]
Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: #IStillBelieveInHEROES, #SayNoToHYDRACap, #nickspencerishydra, #sayitaintso, Anger, Anger Management, Avengers Family, Betrayal, Civilized Fan-Rage, Defamation, Dubious Ethics, Ethical Dilemmas, Ethics, Gen, No Sex, RPF, Rebellion, Team as Family, Unconventional Families, libel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 08:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers hunt down HYDRA agent Nick Spencer and clean up the mess he's made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rotten Fruit

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about [Marvel's latest issue of fail](http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/captain-america-outed-as-a-secret-hydra-agent-in-new-comic/120697). Clearly somebody ought to do something about this. Well, I'm Somebody. If you're outraged too, [I have a list of suggested responses](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/10630854.html).
> 
> This story fills the "caught in the act" square in [my 5-1-16 card](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/10601330.html) for the Solo Celebration Bingo fest.
> 
> A note on feedback: While it's not necessary to comment on every post I make, remember that I don't know who reads/likes things if nobody says anything. Particularly on long stories, I've discovered that I get antsy if there's nothing but crickets chirping for several posts. So it helps to give me feedback at least once, even if it's just "I like this" or "This one doesn't grab me." First and last episodes are ideal if you rarely feel inspired to comment in the middle.
> 
> I also have a list of [favorite photogenic scenes](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9313791.html) from the whole series for fanartists to consider, partly compiled from audience requests.
> 
> The tags #sayitaintso and #nickspencerishydra have been previously referenced in materials I cite for this entry. If people like them and use them, they can be canonized for AO3 and made searchable; it takes three uses to achieve that. I checked, and they weren't searchable before I posted this, but this is at least one, so we need at most two more.

Metal screeched and tore as Steve Rogers continued to dismantle the dimensional portal. He had long since dropped the shield and resorted to pulling it apart with his bare hands. It reminded Agent Coulson that Steve Rogers had been a very determined pint-sized hero before Captain America even existed. Periodically Steve would glare over his shoulder, flex his hands a few times, and then go back to pummeling the device with his fists.

In the opposite corner of the room, Hulk carefully folded another office chair into the makeshift cage he was using to hold Nick Spencer, a HYDRA sleeper agent. They had caught wind of him going from one dimension to another, methodically destroying the reputation of Captain America and the Avengers, then finally tracked him down in Earth-1218. Hulk grunted satisfaction with the containment, then began reciting social stories -- from memory -- about bullies and the importance of stopping them.

"Mean people are bullies," said Hulk. "Bullies say mean words. Bullies hurt people."

"Tell that to _him!"_ Nick said, pointing at Steve.

Hulk snorted. "Know how to handle bully. Tell bully stop," he said. Then he leaned forward, close enough to breathe on Nick. "STOP. Say feelings. BAD. Tell grownup about bully." Hulk turned to look at Agent Coulson. "Bully picking on Steve."

"Thank you, Hulk," said Agent Coulson. "I'll make sure that Nick stops trying to get Steve in trouble." He was really looking forward to that part of the debriefing. Memories of surviving his own bullies in childhood made it very gratifying to deal with the ones he found in his current line of work. It was also encouraging to see how much was getting through to Hulk, from Game Night and other team activities, enough to give him more nuanced options than just smashing everything in sight.

Some of that must have gotten through to Steve, because he quit trying to tear the stub of a cable from the floor and turned around. "Thanks, big guy," he said. "I guess I still need a hand dealing with the bullies sometimes."

"What friends for," Hulk said, then went back to his story.  
  
Nick Spencer did not seem to be enjoying the performance. His whole face twisted as if he tasted something sour.

Agent Coulson really did not look forward to telling Nick Fury that his cousin was compromised. The kid had been named after him, had grown up on stories of the Howling Commandos, joined SHIELD straight out of boot camp ... and now _this?_ It was another punch in the trust issues that the Director did not need.

"What should we do with this ... garbage?" Hawkeye asked. One foot gave a pallet of comic books a disparaging kick. "I feel like I bit into an apple and found _half_ a worm."

Agent Coulson looked away from the disturbing cover of Captain America holding a desperately wrong, triangular shield. His stomach lurched. He swallowed hard. "I don't know."

"Burn 'em," Tony said. He had taken off the Iron Man helmet and sweat slicked his dark hair against his skin.

"We can't _burn books,_ Tony, that's a HYDRA tactic!" Steve protested. His voice hitched.

"Okay, okay, we'll think of something else," Tony said, waving his hands.

"If I may be of assistance?" JARVIS said, pitching his own voice through the Iron Man speakers.

"Yes, please," said Steve. He wiped a hand over his face.

"I recommend that you dispatch the offending materials to high school and college classes on literary analysis," said JARVIS. "You might like to target schools whose struggling budgets limit their access to suitable materials. Perhaps include copies of references such as the _Aarne-Thompson Index_ and _The Hero with a Thousand Faces_ to assist students in identifying heroic and unheroic motifs in literature. It is a useful life skill which also carries over into identifying trustworthy and untrustworthy individuals in politics or personal life."

"Thanks, JARVIS, that sounds fantastic," Steve said.

"It is a sound strategy to evade an enemy's attack and strike back directly at his core purpose," JARVIS said.

"Yeah. Hey, can we send some to the _kibbutzim_ on my charity list? They're always scrounging for more supplies. Besides, I need them to know that ... if things go wrong, I want people to _do_ something about it, not just stand and watch. Even if I'm the one having a bad idea that day," Steve said.

"Compiling now," JARVIS said. "Additional parameters, sir?"

"How many of those rags are in the pallet, and how many schools could we cover with that?" Tony asked.

"There are 40 long white boxes on the pallet, each of which can contain up to 300 comic books, for a total of 12,000. At 20 comic books per class, that would be 600 schools," JARVIS said.

"Okay, have the PR department bundle them that way, add the two reference books you suggested, and find somebody to draft a teacher's guide. Then peel off $6 million from my educational philanthropy fund and divide that among the schools to cover any incidental expenses. I'll leave it to you to figure out which schools would benefit the most from this project," Tony said. Then he looked at Agent Coulson. "Or do you need this crap for evidence?"

Agent Coulson hesitated. On the one hand, it would be useful, but they already had a roomful of evidence even if most of it now lay in pieces smaller than Steve could grip easily. On the other hand, they _technically_ were not supposed to let alternate-dimension materials into the hands of the public. Then again, JARVIS had been explaining to him about "loss leaders," and Agent Coulson thought if they let people have something that was only a _little_ dangerous, like a defamatory comic book, that might discourage them from trying to take _extremely_ dangerous things like alien technology. At the same time, it would start teaching citizens how to think about and cope with complicated issues such as dimensional travel and HYDRA plots.

"Make it happen," Agent Coulson decided. He could bury the disposition of anti-Captain America comics in his report about Nick Spencer, and the Director would be too busy fuming over the personal issues to notice much else.

"What are we going to tell Director Fury?" asked Hawkeye.  
  
Phil knew all about awful cousins. His mother had one drunken loser who never failed to insult their "broken home" and consequently was not welcome there. "I will tell him," said Agent Coulson, "that every family tree has some rotten fruit."

**NOTES:**

The end notes are too long to fit in the box, so I am putting them here instead.

Recently [Marvel portrayed Steve Rogers](http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/25/11769542/captain-america-marvel-comics-hydra-supervillain) as a HYDRA sleeper agent [in this issue](http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/captain-america-outed-as-a-secret-hydra-agent-in-new-comic/120697), which has caused considerable upset on [political](http://panels.net/2016/05/26/on-steve-rogers-1-antisemitism-and-publicity-stunts/) and [personal](http://kereeachan.tumblr.com/post/144999425322/jadedhavok-boopboopbi-megawordstringer-my) grounds, with fans responding about how it has hurt them or their friends/families. Among the helpful tags in response to this outrage are [#nickspencerishydra](http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/4017452.html?thread=16895788#t16895788) and [#sayitaintso](http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Chris-Evans-Had-Best-Reaction-Controversial-Captain-America-Comics-Twist-133487.html).

[Earth-1218](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Earth-1218) is the Marvelverse code for our world.

[Bullying](http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/dealing-with-bullying.htm) involves many people in a [circle of violence](http://wecanco.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/the-bullying-circle.jpg). It involves all kinds of personal attacks from the physical to verbal and identity abuse. Here is a [slideshow about bullying](http://www.slideshare.net/phcomm/bullying-tdv-pcaga-conference). There are many resources to [stop bullying](http://stopbullyingnow.com/works/) and [be an upstander](http://www.sweenyisd.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_325171/File/Parents/SHAC/Bullying/10WaystoBeanUpstander_copy.pdf). Finding usable references to [stop someone from bullying you](http://www.stompoutbullying.org/index.php/information-and-resources/about-bullying-and-cyberbullying/are-you-being-bullied/) is difficult, as much of the advice is bad (ignoring the bully amounts to doing nothing which has a statistically insignificant 3% success rate) and the most effective response -- filing a lawsuit against the bully -- has a [dismal 16% success rate](http://www.workplacebullying.org/effectiveness/).

[Social stories](http://www.educateautism.com/social-stories.html) are intended to provide explicit instructions for people with learning or social disabilities. Some of them are excellent. Others are terrible because they say things which are true of the neurotypical writers but NOT true of the intended audience of neurovariant readers. Social stories can also help English learners and others who find reading difficult, because they are customarily illustrated with vocabulary icons such as used on a speechboard. I figured they would be useful for Hulk in that regard. Social stories can [introduce the concept of bullying](http://www.slideshare.net/BeccaDupree/being-bullied-social-story), and explain [how to stop a bully](https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-To-Stop-A-Bully-Social-Story-for-Students-with-Special-Needs-1576362) or [stop being a bully](https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Dont-Want-to-Be-a-Bully-Anymore-Social-Story-for-Students-with-Special-Needs-1576348). This one is [more elaborate](http://www.tooter4kids.com/bullying.htm). Here is a [video along the same lines](http://www.aspergerssocialstories.com/2011/10/aspergers-students-and-bullying-social.html). One of the interesting things about Hulk is that he is an emotional genius, not a linguistic genius, while Bruce is the opposite. Over the course of this series, Hulk is increasingly prone to give excellent emotional advice. In this case, he has decided that someone needs to hear it in ... _very small words_.

[Book burning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning) is a major red flag for tyranny, and [the Nazis employed it](https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005852), so logically HYDRA would too. [Burning copies of Captain America](http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/27/dude-burns-comic-book-because-captain-america-is-a-nazi-fails-to-see-the-irony/) because you don't like the portrayal of Cap as a HYDRA agent simply plays into enemy hands. Instead, fight back with good storytelling and literary analysis, because they _hate_ that stuff. Hence this story.

[The Aarne-Thompson Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne%E2%80%93Thompson_classification_systems) includes volumes on plot and on motifs used in folktales and other literature. [The Hero with a Thousand Faces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces) is a famous analysis of different archetypes within the heroic character class. These are excellent references for anyone who wishes to pop the hood and study the mechanics of literature.

Comic books are often stored in long white boxes. [One box holds 250-300 comics](http://megomuseum.com/community/showthread.php?27184-How-Many-Comic-Books-Fit-In-A-Longbox), depending on page count and whether or not they're bagged. This dealer mentioned [stacking 40 boxes per pallet](http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg118.html). So that's 12,000 comics per pallet. At 20 per class, one pallet would cover 600 schools. Plus Tony's ridiculously generous idea of funding to cover "incidentals."

[Teacher's guides](http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/27-FE4-CreateTeachersGuide.html) and [lesson plans](http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/lesson_plans/) make a resource more valuable and easier to use. You can find these for the [Holocaust](https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/activity/highschl.htm) and other [controversial issues](http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-eg/6633). Learn about [character development](http://teacher.depaul.edu/documents/analyzecharacterdevelopmentlessonplan.pdf), [heroic traits](http://lessonplanspage.com/lasswhoisyourheroactivityandessay612-htm/), [villainous traits](https://someloosechange.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/a-penny-on-10-traits-of-highly-effective-villains/), and [how to create effective characters](http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/fantastic-characters-analyzing-creating-30637.html?tab=4).

A [loss leader](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader) is something cheap meant to benefit the company by influencing customer behavior. Most often, it is something sold below production cost to entice people into buying other things. But it can also refer to cheap junk set within easy reach so that people will steal it instead of taking more expensive items that are harder to reach, as many jewelry stores do.

[The _kibbutz_ movement](http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-kibbutz-movement/) is a type of [intentional community in Jewish culture](http://www.ic.org/wiki/kibbutz-movement/). Traditionally the children were [raised and educated communally](https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-grow-up-in-a-kibbutz), and many o them enjoyed that camaraderie. This provides some insight on the value of [equalizing educational investments](https://www.boi.org.il/deptdata/mehkar/iser/04/iser_5.pdf). It seemed like something that would appeal to Steve Rogers, who grew up in an orphanage and had a Jewish mentor who helped him become a superhero.

EDIT 6/1/16: [Knightinbrightfeathers](http://archiveofourown.org/users/knightinbrightfeathers) has provided an additional perspective on _kibbutzim_. My exposure to them has been through the intentional community movement, which tends to feature those which are still focused on communal living are are doing well at that, and I figured that Steve would have tracked down those. Many others have changed from their origins and/or had further problems. So I am including this for a more complete picture:  
"I just wanted to point out that kibbutzim have stopped communal education and housing. Most kibbutzim are private now, because of economical factors but also because the system was very flawed and given to corruption. Nowadays children who live in a kibbutz will go to a regional school, funded by the government and with the same syllabus and budget as any other public school. The unique educational system of the kibbutzim is now largely extinct. As a child to two parents who were both raised in a kibbutz, I can tell you that the amount of xenophobia and subtle class systems in them would be something Steve would hate. My dad came out of the communal living with a bunch of abandonment issues. He endured a lot of bullying, and nobody much welcomed the inclusion of an immigrant family. My mother has told me of the lax supervision children experienced, and the dangers this brought on, including cases of sexual assault. This is not to say that kibbutzim were without their good points. My mother has fond memories of her childhood. A lot of people chose to stay in the kibbutzim, which even now have a sense of community and provide a place for children to be more independent and experience something other than city life.  
Most kibbutzim are now privatized communities, aspects of which might still appeal to Steve, but nothing like the original kibbutzim built when Israel was new, with their spirit of pioneering, patriotism and love of the land. If Steve wants to donate to a Jewish organization, there are plenty of those, and plenty of universities that would happily teach a course on Erasure of Jewish Values from Popular Media or whatever strikes your fancy. I apologize for the essay. I don't like seeing Israel misrepresented, even if it is a positive misrepresentation."

[Writing is powerful](http://wac.colostate.edu/journal/vol3/farrell2.pdf), both on a [personal](https://medium.com/@wynlim/the-power-of-your-writing-c235ee82e603#.mfoj3jdsx) and a [political](http://writetodone.com/how-writing-can-change-the-world/) level. Therefore [writers](https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/17483/ctrstreadeducrepv01980i00015_opt.pdf?sequence=1) and [other intellectuals](https://chomsky.info/19670223/) have a responsibility to [use that power wisely](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peg-fitzpatrick/words-have-power-use-them_b_3670379.html), due to their influence on individuals and the wider culture. While people often think of power in terms of force, psychological and zoological studies indicate that [more genteel methods are more effective](http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/power_paradox). Here is a [lesson plan about responsibility](http://www.goodcharacter.com/ISOC/Responsibility.html).

Now let's step over to another superhero famous for ethical considerations. Spiderman is known for the principle, "[With great power comes great responsibility](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5d6rTQcU2U)." Uncle Ben seems to mean the responsibility not to hurt people with it, especially if you are so massively overskilled that your opponent stands no chance; i.e. don't be a bully. Peter tends to interpret this as an obligation to go into crimefighting. Contrast this with supervillain standards. They don't care what other people need or want; [they only care about what _they_ want](http://www.comicpanelvision.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/spider-x-2.png). The same applies to entertainers who don't care if they hurt people, just want to get their jollies, and if challenged will say "[Who cares](http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/4018265.html?thread=16894041#t16894041)?" or "Just kidding," both [markers for emotional abuse](http://www.peaceandhealing.com/psychology/emotional-abuse/). The [morality of superpowers](http://www.academia.edu/3535834/SUPERHEROES_Are_they_abiding_by_the_moral_values) raises questions because they [threaten the status quo](http://www.1paradigm.org/ethics.html). But they also make us [question whether the end justifies the means](https://www.nuskool.com/learn/lesson/ethics-superheroes/) and [how to handle the legal implications](https://ethicsalarms.com/2010/12/29/superhero-ethics/). Ordinary abilities raise similar issues when they operate on a larger scale, as with distribution of printed materials by a major publisher.


End file.
